Tallahassee PD Bloodhound Team Recognized On 2023 Florida Missing Children’s Day
Det. Paul Osborn of the Tallahassee Police Dept. and K9 Jon Jon were presented with the Jimmy Ryce Trailing Team of the Year award for locating a missing 4-year-old with autism during a formal ceremony at the 25th Florida Missing Children’s Day event on Sept. 11, 2023. The Florida Missing Children’s Day Foundation, The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and The Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse Advisory Board annually recognize citizens, law enforcement officers, and K9 trailing teams for their exemplary efforts when investigating missing persons, rescuing missing children or preventing abductions and included a time of remembrance recognizing impacted families of a missing loved one.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass presented Det. Osborn and K9 Jon Jon with the award for their role in finding 4-year-old Noah Beebe in Franklin County Florida last May. The lifesaving Tallahassee Bloodhound Team has multiple missing children finds to their credit. 4-year-old Noah Beebe had been missing for 3 hours when Det. Osborn and K9 Jon Jon began their search.
“Please Bring Him Home” – Missing 4-Year-old Found Safe
Det. Osborn and K9 Jon Jon arrived on the scene and used a Scent Kit to collect a scent article from the child’s shoe and deployed from the child’s residence with Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley. Noah Beebe had been missing for 3 hours. The crowd at the scene had grown to dozens of people and many vehicles. K9 Jon Jon took a whiff of the Scent Jar and took off into the woods. “The woods were so thick that Osborn and I had to hand the lead off to each other to get through,” said Coley. K9 Jon Jon pushed through the swampy woods for .25 miles and located the missing child in knee-deep water with only a shirt on. When they radioed in that they had found the missing boy, they could hear the cheers from all the people at the scene a quarter mile away. Read the FULL STORY HERE.
Tallahassee Police Dept. Swears In New Bloodhound
K9 Jon Jon, a scent discriminate Bloodhound, has a special missing child story of his own. He is named after 3-year-old Jonathan “Jon Jon” Hagans who went missing in 1968 and is Florida’s oldest missing child case. K9 Jon Jon was donated to the Tallahassee Police Dept. by Scent Evidence K9 and Citizens for Scent Evidence, an organization of local businesses that work to help the community and protect children. Read more about K9 Jon Jon HERE.
https://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Tallahassee-Police-Department-gets-new-scent-dog-568443851.html?fbclid=IwAR2JN1wMcDngGS7FqcgYHbqhj29CSWXDkJf_-9o75t1mf8G3ZbfjmSNtDhI
“We are proud of Det. Osborn and K9 Jon Jon. We are honored to work and train with this exemplary scent discriminate K9 team often and they deserve this honor for their commitment to creating a safer community,” stated Coley.
Bringing The Lost Home
The Tallahassee Police Dept. is a Bringing The Lost Home Program agency and receives special advanced training to help locate missing children and adults who are at risk of wandering. The program also includes an effective Scent Kit program that helps families and caregivers prepare for a missing person event before it happens. Scent Evidence K9 and The Alzheimer’s Project in Tallahassee work with the TPD to supply program resources and create awareness for protecting people with dementia and autism who are at risk of wandering. To date, 270 people have been found by Florida BTLH participating agencies. Click HERE to learn more about the Bringing The Lost Home Program.
Want to learn more about the trailing work of this amazing K9 Team? Check out the article below.
Tallahassee Police SVU K9 Unit Finds Missing Teen
